Biography
Al Freeman Jr. was an American actor, director and educator. Born Albert Cornelius Freeman Jr. in San Antonio, Texas, he appeared in films including Finian's Rainbow (1968), The Detective (1968) and Malcolm X (1992), in which he portrayed Elijah Muhammad.
On television he played police captain Ed Hall on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live from 1972 to 1987, with later recurring appearances; he won the 1979 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the role, the first African-American actor to receive the award. He also appeared in series such as The Cosby Show, Law & Order and Homicide: Life on the Street, and played Malcolm X in the 1979 miniseries Roots: The Next Generations. Freeman taught acting at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he later served as chairman of the theatre arts department.
